A day seldom passes this summer when Matt Malloy, collector of greens fees/scheduler of tee times/bartender at Carter Country Club, doesn’t have a golfer asking him what the future holds for Lebanon’s century-old course.

“A lot of people still think we’re closing,” said Malloy, a retired beer salesman who works part-time at Carter and plays golf three times a week. “They’ll ask, ‘Is this it?’ ”

If Malloy wasn’t so polite, he might respond by paraphrasing Mark Twain: “The reports of Carter’s demise are greatly exaggerated.”

Rumors that Carter could close at the end of the 2024 golf season to pave the way for a major housing development have been circulating for months.

I checked with the Lebanon Planning and Development Department this week. Nothing in city records indicate any projects involving the 253-acre property are in the works.

Still the rumors are understandable.

In February, the Carter Community Building Association, or CCBA for short, announced that its six-year legal fight with the golf course’s owner, Doug Homan, of New London, was drawing to a close.

The CCBA said that Homan had agreed the nine-hole course would remain open “for at least another year.” The agreement “incentivizes” Homan to keep the course running “hopefully for much longer,” the CCBA added.

While the CCBA never owned the golf course, the legal dispute revolved around a restrictive covenant granted by a former owner, the late “Peanie” Goodwin, that the course remain “in perpetuity.”

Homan argued that he had clear title to the property, which he bought in 1992 for $600,000. In 2022, the New Hampshire Supreme Court sided with Homan, who also owns the private Lake Sunapee Country Club in New London.

In May, a Grafton County Superior Court judge closed the case, but the agreement between Homan and the CCBA wasn’t made public. The secrecy fueled the rumor mill (i.e. Facebook) even more. The CCBA, as the rumors went, had received a $250,000 payout.

Shortly after the case was settled, I reached out to the CCBA’s attorney, Jeremy Eggleton, of Hanover. The CCBA has “not received any money,” he said in an email. “There are a number of conditions in the agreement that are only triggered if the property is sold or subdivided, or the golf course ceases to operate.”

When I called Homan this week he politely declined an interview request, but said Carter employees were free to talk with me.

On Friday morning, I caught up with General Manager Matt Maxham while he was in the equipment garage fixing a mower’s flat tire.

“There’s nothing to all the rumors,” said Maxham, who has worked at Carter since 2007. He pointed to a new roof on the clubhouse and repairs to its porch — signs that Homan is committed to keeping the course open.

Homan has also given him no indication that he wants to sell Carter, Maxham said.

“Since COVID, we’ve been making some money,” he said. This year, the club has about 160 members. the most ever that Maxham could recall.

I also talked with a few people who know Homan. Now that he’s in his late 60s, he no longer seems interested in pursuing a major development project that would likely take years to pull off — starting with getting regulatory approval from the city, they said.

Meanwhile, Sandra Goodwin Fontana, daughter of the former owner, is leading an effort to “ensure that future generations can enjoy this cherished iconic recreational space.” Her online petition to have Carter recognized on the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places drew nearly 300 supporters.

The idea has merit.

In early 1920s, Lebanon resident Augustus Carter decided the city should have a golf course that “everyone could play, not just the elite,” Ray Lagasse said.

Lagasse, 91, is the golf course’s unofficial historian.

Carter’s father started the now-defunct Lebanon clothing factory that made work clothes bearing the family’s name. Augusta Carter’s cousin, William, provided the money to build the Carter Community Building, a youth recreation center in downtown Lebanon that belongs to the CCBA.

Carter hired legendary golf course architect Donald Ross to design the nine-hole layout. On the course’s opening day in 1924, Carter’s wife and daughter were among the first to tee off. “It was probably one of a small minority of courses in the country back then that allowed women to play,” Lagasse said. “It’s been a real asset to the community and still is.”

Carter, among a handful of nine-hole courses in the Upper Valley, is affordable ($27 for nine holes) and unpretentious. “It’s a golf course, not a country club with a pool and tennis courts,” said Doug Lantz, a former club champion.

Lantz, 67, plays with friends on Saturday mornings. On Sunday mornings, he returns to mow the greens.

Carter doesn’t have a club pro. Most of the cart paths are dirt. The dress code, if there is one, doesn’t require collared-shirts.

After Dartmouth College shuttered Hanover Country Club in 2020, Carter helped fill the void. Gary Shepard, a longtime member at Hanover, took over for Lagasse this year as organizer of Carter’s league for the 50-and-older set that attracts 25 or more golfers on Tuesday mornings.

“It’s right in town and the rates are reasonable,” Shepard said. “It’s also a chance to socialize.”

On Thursday afternoon, Samantha Small, of Hartland, dropped off her 9-year-old son, Colton, and his older cousin, Tucker. “Carter and John Larkin (a nine-hole course in Windsor) are very junior player friendly, which is big,” Small said.

A place where kids can spend a couple of hours getting some exercise while chasing around a little white ball without adults hovering over them?

That in itself is enough reason to keep Carter just the way it is.

Jim Kenyon can be reached at jkenyon@vnews.com.